Category Archives: Milk Stout

This is the second in our series of podcasts recorded LIVE at breweries along the I-55 corridor, within 4 miles of an exit. This time we head to Willow Springs and visit Imperial Oak Brewing. Our hosts for the evening are brewer / co-founders, Brett Semenske and Grant Hamilton, who bring with them their Flagship, Showcase, and Inspiration beers for us to taste and talk about, and we hear stories of how the brewery came to be, how it has developed, and what’s in store for the future. And finally, bringing in the ‘chain’ beer ready for our next Corridor 55 podcast, brewers Jordan Isenberg, and Justin Rigoni, from Blue Nose Brewery in Hodgkins. Usual co-host Chuck Fort is busy at a UKG meeting, so joining me as guest co-hosts are Corridor 55 producer and craft beer promoter, Kevin Herbst, and the ‘Yankee’, Mike ‘Lingo’ Lingafelter.

As we talk about the origins of the brewery, the futures, what their favorite TV shows are, and home brewing versus commercial brewing, we taste and review their beer selections.

Flagship Beer – a brew that represents a mainstay, and something you should always try when you visit
Udderly Black, Milk Stout, 5.4% ABVShowcase Beer – a brew that the guests want to highlight as something specialCognac Barrel Aged Double Dee’s, Imperial Porter, 10% ABVInspiration Beer – a brew that has some type of inspirational aspect or personal sentiment to our guests
Dave’s Pale Ale, American Pale Ale homebrew, a beer that won mant awards and inspired Imperial to have it on tap from time to time.Chain Beer – the brew that links our focus brewery to the next podcast release
Blue Nose Brewery, Lenna, Kettle Sour, 4.2% ABV

We always know that the pub is a place where friends drop in for a chat and a pint, and in this episode we have a couple of friends drop by to sample some brews with us. Mark is away traveling out West, so I’ve brought in assistant brewer from Church Street Brewing, Chuck Fort to help me try a few Irish brews, and a few Illinois brews.
As we recorded this at John’s Tavern in Winfield, owner John K. joins us later, and then my physiotherapist Matt drops by after a hard day of therapy.

This show tries the latest Guinness variety pack, a left-over from St. Patrick’s Day when we couldn’t record due to Phil getting the flu.

And then back home to Illinois, we try 3 new brews from our local breweries and we figure out if they are worth spending your hard earned dollars on.

As we missed a week for Thanksgiving, we are back with a bumper edition.

Heading into the dark winter days, we select 6 hearty stouts that we think are good selections for either go-to or treat beers from the dark side. Joining Mark and Phil is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer from Church Street. As all the beers are great in their own right, we won’t be rating them, but instead we select our top 2, based solely on personal preference. Chuck brings their Holy Cow! Milk Stout as our starter brew.

To break up the Stout session, we cleanse our palate with a short interview with Brandon Wright, head brewer at Plainfield’s Werk Force Brewing. He won a gold medal at FOBAB 2016 for his Beautifully Broken, in the Fruit Beer category, and we caught up with him to find out all about his win and the beer.

Here are the stouts we reviewed, plus the timings if you want to skip around: